Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Key Points

• Vanguard raised its stake in Cardinal Health by 2.0%, adding 617,775 shares to hold 31,441,258 shares (about 13.23% ownership) valued at roughly $6.46 billion at quarter-end.
• Wall Street leans positive with one Strong Buy, fourteen Buy and two Hold ratings—MarketBeat’s consensus is a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of about $244.33 amid recent target revisions from analysts.
• Cardinal Health reported a quarterly EPS beat ($2.63 vs. $2.31) and 18.8% revenue growth to $65.63 billion, and it pays a quarterly dividend of $0.5107 (annualized $2.04, ~1.0% yield).

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,441,258 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 617,775 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 13.23% of Cardinal Health worth $6,461,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,255 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,227 shares of the company's stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the company's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Cardinal Health by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MFA Wealth Services raised its stake in Cardinal Health by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Services now owns 2,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $260.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Leerink Partners restated an "outperform" rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, April 12th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Cardinal Health from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $244.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $244.33.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 0.1%

CAH stock opened at $199.74 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $215.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.90. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.76 and a twelve month high of $233.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.00 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.64.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.32. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.68% and a negative return on equity of 92.50%. The firm had revenue of $65.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 10.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were paid a $0.5107 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Cardinal Health's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.35%.

Cardinal Health Profile

Cardinal Health is a multinational healthcare services and products company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. Tracing its roots to the early 1970s, the company has grown into a major provider of supply chain and distribution services for the healthcare sector. Cardinal Health operates across a range of service lines that support hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, physician offices and clinical laboratories.

The company's core activities include the wholesale distribution of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, the supply and distribution of medical-surgical products, and the provision of logistics and inventory management solutions.

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